The Breath of Life
by kaerfemina
Summary: What happens when you give someone the Breath of Life? Sakura is about to find out. Lee/Saku, Saku/Lee
1. Chapter 1

A/N: You know what? Lee needs some loving. So here's a story about him and Sakura.

DISCLAIMER: I unfortunately do not own Naruto. Wish I did, but I don't. I only own this plot and any OCs I may decide to bring in.

"speaking" 'thinking' _flashback/dream_

XOXO

The Breath of Life

XOXO

Sakura sat in the break room with her cup of coffee. She had been working at the hospital for years now and she hardly has time to sleep let alone have a social life. However, tonight she has the night off, her first night off in so long. Ino and Shizune, who were taking the night shift, made her promise that she'd go out and have some fun.

But she had no idea how she was going to have fun. All the shinobi her age were off on missions, with the exception of Ino who worked at the hospital as a medic-nin. She sighed and took a long sip of the hot liquid she held in her delicate hands.

The sound of running footsteps could be heard down the hall. Suddenly, Shizune burst into the break room. "Sakura! Hurry, come quick! It's Lee! Gai brought him in. He's in pretty bad shape!"

Sakura's eyes widened and she gulped down the rest of her coffee, threw the cup in the trash and rushed out the door after Shizune. Running down the hall, she asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know but it seems that most of his bones are either broken or crushed."

They entered the ER's operation room and they saw Tsunade and Ino attempting to prep Lee for emergency reconstructive bone surgery. When Sakura saw Lee she gasped. His body was tattered; it was a miracle he was still breathing. She rushed forward and began to help prep him for surgery.

About three hours later the surgery was going well and it seemed as if he would pull through okay. Most of his bones were mended thanks to the medical jutsus that they used on him. When the surgery started, they focused on the bones of his head and body, where the crucial organs are. But now, they were focusing on the more delicate bones of his extremities. Suddenly, his pulse dropped and his breathing stopped. The women working on him rushed around in a frenzied panic for a moment. Then they attempted to bring his vitals back up.

After a minute or so, he still wasn't stabilizing and they were getting anxious. Sakura looked at his face as she did chest compressions and began to break down.

"Don't do this to me, Lee! Please don't die!" She said as tears slid down her cheeks. Finishing her chest compressions, she still didn't feel a pulse. "Come on, Lee! You can't die!" She took a deep breath and brought her mouth to his and filled his lungs with air.

Suddenly, the heart monitor behind her began beeping. Slowly, his heartbeat returned to a normal pace.

"Oh, thank Kami!" Ino said, wiping the beads of sweat that formed on her forehead with the back of her hand.

Sakura heaved a sigh of relief and sat down on a stool. She wiped away the remaining tears in her eyes and smiled. "That's the Lee I know. A real fighter."

Everyone smiled and nodded. Then they continued to fix his damaged bones.

XOXO

Hours later, Lee was resting comfortably in a hospital room wrapped tightly in bandages. By the time everything was settled, it was midnight and Sakura left the hospital with Ino.

"So much for my night off."

"Don't worry about it, you saved Lee's life."

"I know, but I hardly get anytime off. I was looking forward to it."

"Okay, I'll tell you what. I have tomorrow's morning shift off, I'll cover your shift and you can go have some fun."

"Ino, I couldn't do that to you. That'll mean you'll work four shifts in a row!"

"That's no big deal. You do it all the time and you're just fine."

"I only function because of coffee." She muttered. "I'm exhausted all the time."

"All the more reason for you to take me up on this offer. I can handle no sleep for a day, but since you do it all the time, you need some time off."

"Thanks, Ino. I'll see you tomorrow."

The girls separated and walked towards their own homes.

XOXO

The next morning, Sakura woke up for once _after_ the sun had risen. She sat up and stretched. Covering her mouth from a yawn, she said, "That felt so good! I needed a good night's sleep!"

She got out of bed and dressed. She didn't have to be in work for a few hours but she had no idea what she should do until then.

"I guess I'll go buy flowers for Lee and go see how he's doing."

She grabbed her wallet, tucked it into her pouch, and walked outside. Locking the door to her apartment, she walked down the street and entered the flower shop Ino's family owned.

"Good morning, Mrs. Yamanaka. May I have a bouquet of daisies please?"

"Of course, Sakura. May I ask who they are for?"

"They're for Rock Lee. He's in the hospital again."

"Oh dear, that's horrible!" Ino's mother said as she wrapped up the flowers.

"He was pretty bad last night. But he'll be just fine in a few weeks."

"That's good." She handed the daisies to Sakura. "That'll be 1,000 yen."

She paid for the flowers and left the store. Walking down the street she thought, 'I wonder if he'll be awake when I get there?'

She entered the hospital and went straight for the room she knew Lee was in. As she walked down the hall leading to his room, Ino exited it.

"Sakura! What are you doing here? I gave you the morning off!"

"Don't worry, Ino. I'm here as a visitor not a doctor. How's Lee doing?"

"He's stable, but he hasn't woken up yet. Those flowers for him?"

She nodded. "Can I see him?"

"By all means. I'll see you later, okay?"

Sakura nodded and waved as her friend left. She turned back to the door and entered the room.

It was pretty dark inside because the curtains were closed and Ino had turned out the lights so he could sleep easier. She put the flowers in the empty vase on the table beside the bed and picked it up and put water in it. She then pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.

She looked at him sleeping peacefully. She realized just then that in the past few years he had grown quite handsome. She reached over and began to stroke his hair. 'It's so soft!' She smiled and continued stroking.

After a few minutes she said in a whisper, "You know, Lee, when I thought you were going to die, I was so scared." She sighed. "I know I always say you're annoying and a pest, but the thought of you not being in my life terrified me. The truth is I've grown quite fond of you over the past few years…"

Lee stirred and she immediately stopped talking. His eyes fluttered open and he gazed confused at his surroundings until his eyes landed on the woman beside him. "Sakura?"

"Yes, its me. How are you feeling?"

"Sore and thirsty."

"Oh! Hold on, I'll get you some water." She ran to the bathroom and filled a paper cup at the sink. "Here you go." She said helping him to drink it.

"Arigato, Sakura." He said as she sat back down. He stared at her for a long time, not saying anything.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, it's just I had a strange dream."

"Really? What was it?"

"You were crying, telling me not to die. And then you kissed me and I felt life flow into me. Then everything went black."

Sakura's eyes widened as they filled with tears. "Lee, that was what happened in the ER. Your heart and breathing stopped and I had to do manual CPR."

Lee's bandaged hand flew to his lips and he smiled. "You kissed me!"

"No, it was CPR."

"Then you gave me the Breath of Life!"

XOXO

A/N: So what do you think? I hope you like it. Please R&R!

kaerfemina


	2. Author's Note

A/N: Konnichiwa, minna! Check it out, I'm alive! I'm terribly sorry to all my fans out there for not updating in the past 6 months. I've been having terrible problems. First, the holidays happened and I had no time to write. Then when I actually had time, I had major writer's block. I tried to force something out but everything I wrote was crap so I scrapped it. Then when I finally found my muse again and got something written that I liked, my computer decided to bite the dust. All my work is now trapped in the hard drive of my laptop, which I think has either a broken motherboard or the processor died. So until I can retrieve those files, don't expect an update.

I know these are just excuses. So I'm sorry. I'll get to work on updating ASAP. Wish me luck!

Until next time!

kaerfemina


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